Page:Maryland, my Maryland, and other poems - Randall - 1908.pdf/119

 Devoted Heart! that bore mine, like an ark,
 * Through the blind deluge of disease and care,

Giving it shelter in the light when dark
 * And hideous fortunes throttled with despair—

While the glad planets o’er the globe impend, Be thou my battlement of Pride, my friend!

Undaunted Heart! that into mine hath poured
 * The subtle wine-blood of its lusty praise—

A living bulwark, with its shield and sword,
 * When I had fallen upon coward days;

O, could I to ethereal worlds ascend, Thy Heart should be my Pantheon, my friend!

Maternal Heart! that charmed mine in the path
 * That glideth to the splendor of the Throne,

And soothed it, blistered in the climes of wrath,
 * And kissed it, shud’ring from the abyss of moan,

The sweet, sweet skies, like incense, interblend About the Altar of thy Heart, my friend!

And thou—who comest like a meteor-beam
 * To quell me in the zenith of my pride—

Thou—thou who mocketh me with that fatal gleam
 * Which gave me but the ghost-world for a bride—

Woe! woe! the palaces I wrought depart, And all my necromancy is a tomb—my Heart.